To Broaden And Deepen Your Own Sense Of Presence

Excerpt from "The Conversational Nature of Reality" an On Being conversation with David Whyte and Krista Tippett (April 7, 2016):

"I began to realize that my identity depended not upon any beliefs I had, inherited beliefs or manufactured beliefs, but my identity actually depended on how much attention I was paying to things that were other than myself.

And that as you deepen this intentionality and this attention, you started to broaden and deepen your own sense of presence.

And I began to realize that the only place where things were actually real was at this frontier between what you think is you and what you think is not you. That whatever you desire of the world will not come to pass exactly as you will like it.

But the other mercy is that whatever the world desires of you will also not come to pass. And what actually occurs is this meeting, this frontier.

But it’s astonishing how much time human beings spend away from that frontier, abstracting themselves out of their bodies, out of their direct experience, and out of a deeper, broader, and wider possible future that’s waiting for them if they hold the conversation at that frontier level."